The saponin monomer of dwarf lilyturf tuber, DT-13, inhibits angiogenesis under hypoxia and normoxia via multi-targeting activity.

The saponin monomer of dwarf lilyturf tuber, DT-13, exhibits anticancer activity by reducing human breast cancer cell adhesion and migration under hypoxia. To further investigate the anticancer activity of DT-13, we investigated whether DT-13 exhibits anti-angiogenic activity. DT-13 showed no effect on human umbilical vein endothelial cell proliferation but inhibited tube formation and migration under normoxia and hypoxia. Moreover, DT-13 significantly reduced density of vessels in vivo observed from a chicken chorioallantoic membrane model. Western blotting results showed that DT-13 suppressed the increased level of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α, p-extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and p-Akt induced by hypoxia. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay revealed that vascular endothelial growth factor excretion was suppressed by DT-13. DT-13 inhibited migration and tube formation induced by vascular endothelial growth factor under normoxia and hypoxia. In addition, DT-13 reduced the level of p-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 and p-Akt induced by vascular endothelial growth factor. Our data suggest that DT-13 inhibits angiogenesis under normoxia and hypoxia and also inhibits angiogenesis induced by vascular endothelial growth factor via targeting at multi elements.